The present invention relates to a refrigerating appliance with a housing enclosing an internal space, and a storage element which is retained in the internal space in a height-adjustable manner by means of arms. Such a refrigerating appliance is known from DE 101 53 625 A1.
In this known refrigerating appliance, the storage element is a shelf which is supported on opposite sidewalls of the body with the aid of two arms per sidewall, the arms each being pivoted about parallel first axes fixed with respect to the housing and rotatably hinged to the shelf on second axes fixed with respect thereto. The shelf plate can assume two stable horizontal positions, the arms hanging down freely under the weight of the shelf in the lower of the two positions and the arms being pivoted upward in the higher position so that the second axes are higher than the first axes and closer than same to a back wall of the body. In this higher position the shelf plate is supported on the back wall of the body.
In addition to the two horizontal positions, the shelf plate of the known refrigerating appliance can also assume two inclined positions wherein in said positions one of two arms anchored in the same sidewall is hinged up and the other is hinged down in each case. Such an inclined position can be useful if, for example, refrigerated goods capable of rolling are to be stored on the shelf, the latter has a raised front edge which prevents the refrigerated goods from falling off in the inclined position, and it is to be ensured that the rollable refrigerated goods are accessible at all times on the front edge of the shelf. However, the ability of the known shelf to assume an inclined position results in the problem that when the height of the known shelf is to be adjusted in the loaded state, precise care must be taken to ensure that it does not tip, as otherwise there is a risk of refrigerated good falling down.
A solution already known from DE 101 53 625 A1 which prevents the attainment of a stable tipped position is to provide two pivoted arms on each side of the shelf. Although this can prevent a severely inclined position of the shelf, it cannot prevent shelf orientation instability if the first and second axes of all the arms are in the same plane.